Matthew Blake's Blog

How important is money when it comes to finding joy in life? Do you think that money can buy happiness? How can you describe your ideal job? If you’re not sure about what the job would be specifically, what would its parameters be? Would you’re independent or working in a group? How much freedom do […]

The post Would You Rather Questions appeared first on LifeHacks.

IN AN perfect world, everyone would be upfront about his or her expectations, women and men would take equal responsibility for courtship, and nobody would ever use an ambiguous winky-face emoji. Fortunately, women have more control over their love lives than they once did–you can no longer hand her dad a cow and call it […]

The post Would You Rather Questions appeared first on LifeHacks.

Hey guys welcome back to My Blog. Today we’re gonna play game of would you rather. A game where you choose between two options of what you’d rather do and some of them are really messed up and then you feel really bad, but you have to choose one. Let’s get into the game. Would […]

The post Would You Rather Questions appeared first on LifeHacks.

Are you the parent of a young prepubescent girl? Or perhaps you are a grade school teacher faced with the challenges of teaching early sexual education? If you are in a parental or authority role of a young girl or girls, there are many important reasons for explaining menstruation and puberty before the onset of […]

The post Would You Rather Questions appeared first on LifeHacks.

Hey guys welcome back to My Blog. Today we’re gonna play game of would you rather. A game where you choose between two options of what you’d rather do and some of them are really messed up and then you feel really bad, but you have to choose one. Let’s get into the game.   […]

The post Would You Rather Questions appeared first on LifeHacks.

“The successful person has the habit of doing the things failures don’t like to do. They don’t like doing them either necessarily. But their disliking is subordinated to the strength of their purpose.” – E.M. Gray The hour has grown late and I should find my bed, but I’m still awake. I could procrastinate and […]

The post The Merits of Discipline appeared first on Matthew Blake.

Daphne duMaurier said, “Writers should be read, but neither seen nor heard.” That may have applied in her era, but in this day of self-publishing, promoting oneself is key, especially if you live in a remote part of the world. Dannie C. Hill, an author of soul-seeking adventures, lives in Thailand. I was interested to know of his experience there, both as a writer and as an American living in Thailand, and I’m very pleased to present to you the account he has provided. For anyone who has ever dreamed of moving to an exotic land where life flows at a softer, slower pace, Dannie’s writing life is a dream. Please take a moment to learn more about him and connect with him in this electronic world. Read on.

Why would an American man move to Thailand to write novels? All the beautiful resorts, islands, mountains, and most of all, the luscious young women gliding along in their colorful sarongs would be a complete distraction to anyone trying to concentrate—on anything.

There is all that and more, but there is also a totally different view once one travels into the interior. Central Thailand, Issan, is a high plateau controlled by the two monsoons—wet and dry. The people are mostly farmer and like most of the people of Thailand, always smiling, friendly and yes, the women are beautiful. I live with my wife, Julee, who is Thai, in the central plateau region. We have a small farm where we grow corn, tapioca, and all the tropical and strange fruits and vegetables one would associate with the tropics. It’s a very small farm and that gives me the time I need to write.

I didn’t move to Thailand with the intent of becoming a full-time writer, but it is just the place I needed to take on the lonely task of writing fiction. The sounds of English grow quiet and daydreams come alive.

 

I do speak the language, but one advantage of being a foreign face in a rural area is I can act as if I don’t understand. I can huddle within my own world until I’m ready to emerge. Thai’s are amazing. They will go about their business without worry but when a foreigner comes out and can speak to them it’s rather like the circus has come to town. I ride my motorcycle out to small villages, see a group of older men and women sitting under a shaded Sala, a gazebo-like structure, and try to strike up a conversation. Once they realize they can understand some of the words coming out of my mouth I become a sight to explore. Children come out and are allowed to probe and pull and generally enjoy this stranger from the far side of the world. I love it.

Back to the point. I wrote before I moved to Thailand, but not with any great effort. I had a family to raise and the electronic world of America wouldn’t allow me to escape to a quiet place I needed to be, except on occasions. After the move with my wife to the other side of the world, I spent my time learning and refining the language, seeing the sights, hearing the sounds and enjoying the tastes of Thailand. After a year or so I sat down to finish a manuscript I had started years before and the words leaped out. It was all I could do for my fingertips to keep up with the story. I would spend hours every day working on first one, then another, then another until I had written four complete manuscripts in three different genres. I was in love with writing again.

The best part of this is my wife! She allowed me this time and didn’t disturb me because she could see how happy it made me. If not for her support I’m sure I would have failed. We have grown closer.

I now have two published books, a Fantasy coming out later this year and a number of manuscripts to finish and refine. That’s why I am a writer in Thailand. I have had to rejoin the electronic world and return to the States from time to time in order to try and sell my books and myself to the people I truly love—the readers! Readers are at the forefront of my writing process. I want to give them a quality, well-written, well-edited, interesting novel. I try hard to write books that I like to read. Each time I do sit down to read one of my books I am still amazed that I wrote it. I hope you will give my works a try and let me know what you think!

I hope to start a blog soon where you can read about many of my adventures in Thailand. Stay tuned!

I want to thank Lee Libro for this opportunity to come on her beautiful site and post this article. Lee Libro is so talented in all she does, I am truly honored that I have gotten to know her a little. Her writing voice in her novel, Swimming with Wings, captured me the very first time I found her. She is one to watch as a rising star in the literary world!

The post Eat Pray Love Write… A Writers Life In Thailand appeared first on Matthew Blake.

I actually wanted to write about value-based charging a while ago. As it happens sometimes, I got sidetracked and my mind was on many other things, as you might have seen by my recent lack of blog posts.

That’s when Brian Marick reminded me to write about it now. So here we go…

There are various models of charging in current business. The main models we can recognize are:

Fixed price
Time based
Value / Result based

Fixed price based charging

In this model of charging providers will set a price depending on their understanding of the scope of the project at the inception time.

One of the flaws of fixed based charging is that you are setting the price given on the current (early) understanding of the project, which might be flawed (especially if you consider the cone of uncertainty. )

This model puts the entirety of the risk on the provider’s side. This sort of charging should be only done if the task at hand is a routine endeavor for the provider’s team and requires very little interaction with the customer.

Most times, when providers use this form of charging they would build in the offer a buffer calculating their internal costs. One possible formula for calculating the total cost would be the following:

?





Fixed price = (scope * your hourly price * fixed price overhead factor) + material







Time-based charging

In this model most providers of services charge for the time spent doing the work. The time charged for varies from hourly, daily to iteration based (when working in an agile team).

When charging for the time the provider considers that the amount of time he spends doing the work has a certain price. It does not consider the actual value provided to the customer during the time worked.

There are variations to this though. Some companies will charge time, but with a notion of value in it. I have seen this done when an iteration has a certain cost attached to it and the total amount charged varies depending on the story points delivered by the team (i.e. if there was less delivered the provider will charge less according to the committed number of story points).

The only problem when charging a certain price per iteration is that given the team is working in an agile way, they will develop the most valuable stories first, leaving the less valuable stories for the end of the project without varying the price of the iteration.

Value-based charging

In this model, we base our charging model on the premise that our customers should only pay for the value they are getting from our work and not for the time we spent doing it.

Similar to time-based charging models, there are different models and approaches to value-based charging.

The possibly simplest way to charge per value (although the one that requires a lot of trust between the customer and the provider) is the one that I like to call What was my work worth to you?

When working like this all the risk resides on the provider as you are putting the payment decision entirely in the customers’ hands and you will have no control whatsoever in the outcome. It requires a high level of trust from both parties as the risk lies solely on the provider’s side.

Another modality of value-based charging, which works for bigger projects or training/coaching services, is based on an upfront study of the work at hand.

When engaging in such a project the provider will try to understand the customer’s context and the variables that play in this context. As a provider, you are trying to get as many insights about the project at hand as you can before you commit to any price.

When the provider has evaluated all the factors that make up the project he and the customer will calculate which expected revenue growth the customer will benefit from after the project will be completed. Once this has been figured out the provider can make different offers (with different levels of options in every offer), charging a percentage of the gain the customer will see when these targets are met.

Similar to fixed bit charging this can put the entirety of the risk on the provider. The difference though is that as a provider you have to keep in mind, and never forget, to first try to understand your customer and his context before you commit to any price. You should always give different offers with varying costs and scope so that the customer can decide which will suit his needs best.

It is important when charging like this that measurable outcomes are set so that the customer and provider can assert to which level the targets have been met.

This can be seen as well as a result based approach to charging, although result based charging is different in that the charging will occur when the project gives the desired (or a fraction of the desired) outcomes. There are modalities to this charging model which work when working with start-ups, which could be based on equity percentages, etc.

These are just a few examples of charging models (especially the value based ones) that I wanted to share with you. There are some more based on retailers, margins, etc.

I myself am exploring the possibilities of value-based charging and most of the time I use the What was my work worth to you? the value based form of charging which seems very natural to me. I have worked with equity-based charging as well and retainers.

Have you any expervalue-basedcharging? Do you have any questions about all this? Share your thoughts!

The post Value Based Charging appeared first on Matthew Blake.

You were at the psychologist’s office because of the bad dreams you’d been having. Dreams that you’d killed a girl when you were in high school. Normally you’d write such dreams off as nightmares, but though you know you didn’t have anything to do with it, this girl actually disappeared. “Please sweet Jesus bring our little girl back to us,” you remember her mom saying on national television as you studied for your AP finals.

“I’m ready to see you now,” Dr. Heston says, ushering you into her office. You spill your guts to her, telling her about your nightmares, how the girl disappeared and eventually her stepfather was found guilty of her disappearance, but how you kept having dreams that you killed her. “In the dreams, it’s the middle of the night and I wake up for no reason,” you say. “I’m just an observer, and my body moves on its own. I get out, walk out the back door, walk to her house, and sneak in her window”–this is when you start crying–“I, I smother her, and then take her to my back yard and bury her. That’s when I wake up.”

Though initially alarmed about your revelations, on your next visit Dr. Heston says “I looked up the case, and it’s clear her stepfather did it. He confessed both to a fellow inmate and then later in court. I think you have unresolved childhood issues that need to be dealt with, though. I propose we go to your parents’ yard and dig where you think you buried her in your dreams. When you see that there’s nothing there perhaps this deranged illusion will leave your mind.” Though you think she was a bit wordy, you agree. As you work swings, you meet her there the next night at 10 pm, about an hour after your parents hit the hay. “Go on, dig,” she says, handing you a shiny new shovel that she must have bought just for the occasion.

When you uncover the skull, she has just enough time to gasp and turn to run before you hit her in the temple full on with the spade end of the shovel. While you push her now lifeless body into the hole on top of the skull you start to weep, but a moment later you start laughing as you realize you’ll just forget about this too. After all–you’ve done it before.

The post An Illusion of Memory appeared first on Matthew Blake.

I wouldn’t normally publicize this side of my private life but see as my blogging hiatus has dragged out I thought why not fill you in on the mess that is currently my life! Instead of having a painful break up that caught me by surprise I was experiencing a dragged out but inevitable one. It got to the point where I couldn’t be near him and living in a flat with only two rooms on offer he got the front room and I was confined to the bedroom. Eventually, I decided that it was time for me to move out but instead it turned out that I ended up staying in the flat by myself. The first few nights were the hardest I had experienced since my Grandma was diagnosed with Cancer and I was sleeping alone in her house. I love my own space and can’t deal with the intensity of a person 24/7 yet I felt so lonely and lost. The flat was a mess, the TV, the Xbox and other appliances I relied on had been taken when I wasn’t home and was left with a mattress on the floor and a tiny TV on a side table. I laid on the mattress and cried, attempted to console myself with Netflix, countless cigarettes and music but nothing calmed the restlessness of my mind.

After nearly five years with the same person, lost friends and comfortable familiarity I was initially concerned that I just wouldn’t be able to date again. I had been made to feel like I couldn’t do any better, constantly criticized and made to feel stupid, it took me a while to mentally remove myself from that situation and start feeling independent again. As soon as I started seeing family and friends alone I was the happiest I had been since college, and I realized it wasn’t normal to not be allowed that freedom and independence, that it is actually a basic right I have for myself. One of the friends I met up with during the break up was using Tinder, and I had never even seen it before let alone knew how to use it. I downloaded it predominantly as a joke whilst I was at the pub- I didn’t even know the right way to swipe at first for a small indicator of my complete naivety and separation from the single/dating world!

 

Once I started receiving messages on Tinder I started chatting to a few guys casually until I adjusted to the situation which surprisingly took very little time. Meeting up with a ‘stranger’ was my biggest worry, as I had heard about people’s bad/sketchy experiences and am an avid lover of Catfish! I eventually bit the bullet as I really wanted to move on with my life. I wasn’t eager or desperate for rebound sex or a rebound relationship as I wasn’t hurt/upset by the break up as it was my choice and had been a long time coming so I had no expectations when meeting guys. In total since I’ve had the app I’ve met up with four guys- one was terrible, one was even more terrible, one was messy and the other was one of the best decisions I have had made for myself in a long time.

The dangerous thing for me personally when it comes to dating is when I develop feelings for someone. I have been hurt and stressed for too much of my life to want any more of that to persevere. I started dating again with the intention of going for drinks/ seeing guys so that I could have fun again and enjoy myself on my terms. However, the successful date off Tinder that I brushed over is developing into feelings and emotions again. I find it impossible to trust anyone just yet, especially when scenarios and characteristics are Deja vus of past events and a failed relationship.

My expectation of Tinder was casual hook ups and dick pics, but instead, I have actually fallen for someone off it instead…

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